The centuries-long process of reclamation and poldering most certainly led to the ambition to also claim the Zuiderzee (South Sea) as land. In 1886, a group of private individuals established the Zuiderzee Association in the hope of making the ideas about enclosure and poldering a reality. This association commissioned the engineer Cornelis Lely (1854-1929) to conduct a feasibility study. His report, published in 1891, proved decisive in the decision to actually realize the Zuiderzee Works. The massive scale of the project and the central control of government marks an extremely important period in land development in the Netherlands.

Transformation
The polders of the Wieringermeer, the Noordoostpolder (Northeast Polder), and Eastern and Southern Flevoland illustrate an important transformation process: a changing focus from a purely agricultural area with villages to an overflow area for the densely built Randstad. The new phase also exhibited an increase in scale in agriculture, an expansion of recreational greenery and greater urban influence, a less rigid pattern of parcellation and a changing relationship between town and country. In addition, the maturing of the disciplines of urban planning and landscape architecture was clearly evident in the layout proposals. Town planners and urbanists had more influence on the design of the structural plans, while simultaneously the landscape architects stepped out of the shadows of the architect and the town planners, thus gaining a full-fledged role in the design process.

Wieringermeer (1925 - 1935)

Northeast Polder (1935 - 1955)

Eastern Flevoland (1955 - 1970)

Southern Flevoland (1968 - 1980)